


A Night of Bad Dreams

by Aaricwriter



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone (Walking Dead), M/M, Whisper War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24068509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaricwriter/pseuds/Aaricwriter
Summary: Aaron and Gracie both suffer from nightmares of the horrors they have seen and the people they have lost.
Relationships: Aaron/Eric Raleigh
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	A Night of Bad Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is full of Aaron angst. I feel like the writers did not let Aaron grieve enough after all he has lost, and I think Gracie should have been a bigger part of his grieving process. Season 10 has me wanting more Aaron and Gracie content as well as actual representation of Aaron’s relationship with Eric and his sexuality. I mean he’s been on the show since season 5 for heaven’s sake.
> 
> This fic is set after the battle of Hilltop. Please check out my other fics.

Aaron decided today was going to be a good day. The birds were chirping outside and the sun was shining through the window making him nice and warm as he woke up. As he yawned and stretched his arms out, he opened his eyes and heard the clinking of dishes coming from the downstairs kitchen. 

He pulled on a T-shirt in addition to his boxers and headed down the to the source of the noise. The seen from the top of the landing was enough to make him beam with joy. Eric was closing up the oven while humming softly to the little baby in his arms. 

When he saw Aaron, his bright smile crossed his face as he leaned back on the counter as his partner made his way to him.

“Morning, love,” Eric whispered as he softly pecked Aaron’s lips, pulling their foreheads together with their daughter safely between them, “How did you sleep last night?”

Aaron hummed lovingly, looking down at his smiling daughter who was babbling softly all swaddled up in her blanket, “Like a log... unlike someone I know,” he was grinning from ear to ear as he ran his hand through Gracie’s hair. 

Eric planted a long kiss to Aaron’s curls as they both looked down at Gracie, “She just so perfect, isn’t she?”

Gracie squealed in delight as Aaron leaned down and gave her a sweet Eskimo kiss, “Yeah... she really is... and you’re a perfect dad.”

Eric looked up from their baby to Aaron’s face with so much love in his eyes, “I couldn’t do it without you.”

“How did I get so lucky to have you?”

“I ask myself the same question,” Eric answered sweetly, “I know your relationship with your parents was rocky, but you are so good with her. She is one lucky girl,” Eric whispered as he stroked Aaron’s cheek and continued to cradle Gracie.

“I love you,” Aaron replied, completely in love as he pressed a warm kiss to Eric’s soft lips.

“Love you more,” Eric teased.

“Not possible,” he chuckled.

The couple basked in the moment of closeness as Gracie continued to babble. 

“What do you say we have some breakfast?” Eric asked, looking up at Aaron once more.

“Sounds great,” he smiled planting a quick kiss to Eric’s forehead, “I can give Gracie her formula.”

“Thanks, I’ve been holding her all morning. You know how much she loves being held and rocked.”

“And I know how much you love to hold her,” Aaron gently took Gracie from Eric’s strong arms and held her against his chest. When Eric had his vicious nightmares, Aaron would find him in Gracie’s room rocking her gently in the chair just staring lovingly into her eyes. Her and Aaron were the only things that could get him to calm down. 

Aaron was snapped out of his thoughts when the formula was ready. He smiled with pure happiness as he watched Gracie eat. Her little hands were wrapped around his as she gripped the bottle. 

As he was softly patting Gracie’s back, he thanked the gods she didn’t puke on his shirt. She soon fell asleep in his arms. Aaron couldn’t help smile at her soft breathing. Eric took a break from setting up the table to give them both a kiss on the forehead. It was perfect mornings like this that brought life to Aaron again. He knew that the good times weren’t gone. No matter how many times he had to talk Eric out of a nightmare as he was sobbing and screaming his lungs out, he knew things were only going to get better. 

He gently laid Gracie down in her crib with her stuffed bunny and made his way back down to the love of his life. As soon as he reached the kitchen he felt sick. There was blood everywhere. Trails and puddles of blood were leading to the basement and Eric was nowhere to be seen. 

He grew pale and reluctantly followed the trail down to the basement after grabbing a flashlight. He reached the center of the basement and saw nothing but blood on the walls and in the corner. He turned to find Eric when a wall suddenly blocked his way. Panicking, he turned back to the basement and found himself in an empty hall with no doors or windows. He shined the flashlight back to the corner with the blood and saw Eric as a walker. 

A sob ripped from his throat. Eric got up and limped toward him. Aaron tried to back as far away as he could, not wanting to face his dead husband. Through his cries of despair, he heard Eric’s growling grow closer as he inevitably made his way down the hall. The horrible reality set in as Aaron sank to his knees and banged on the wall as hard as he could between sobs. Eventually he was too tired and devastated to keep on. Eric lunged at him and gripped his side. 

He couldn’t do it. He didn’t know how to take his lover’s life away. He didn’t want to see the light leave his eyes. He pushed Eric to the side with a groan and ran to the other wall pounding with the same desperation. Eric just followed. As Aaron turned to look, a bat with barbed wire appeared in front of him. Aaron felt sick. He had seen too many lives taken at the hands of a bat like this. He never wanted to watch Eric be one of those lives, and sometimes they came pretty close. 

Aaron almost threw up as he saw Eric bloody and growling. Without trying to think about it too much, he shakily grabbed Lucille and brought it down on Eric’s skull with a sickening crack. The feeling brought Aaron to his knees as blood dripped down Eric’s face. Aaron could not help but sob as he looked at his husband. This time, it wasn’t reanimated Eric, it was his Eric. The Eric he had just been with minutes ago. He was gasping and reaching out to Aaron with a sad and confused look in his eyes. Aaron screamed into his hands.

“A-Aaron... I-I...” Aaron watched in horror as Eric was gasping and sputtering, “w-why... ple-please, A-ar-a,”

A heart-wrenching scream ripped through Aaron as he brought the bat down three more times on Eric’s head. He sobbed each time it made contact. Once he looked at what he had done, Aaron couldn’t move or speak as he stumbled backwards in shock. He whimpered as he tried to reach out to his partner’s chest. He was gone and it was all his fault... all his fault. He couldn’t breathe. The room with him and his dead husband felt like it was getting smaller and running out of air. It was his fault that Eric was gone... that Gracie lost one of her fathers. He buried his head in Eric’s still chest. He failed him. He failed their daughter. 

He shut his eyes tightly and held his hands to his ears, rocking back and forth on his hands and knees over Eric’s body. 

He opened his eyes with a jolt and realized he was staring at his bedroom ceiling. The shock sent him bolting upright with a hand in his tightening chest. His whole bed was soaked with sweat and his body was trembling. He couldn’t hear a thing over the roaring in his ears. 

He looked around his room, trying to orient himself. He worked his brain through the last couple days events to ground himself. It was June. They had just fought at Hilltop. Some died, some survived. He was alive... his daughter was safe. 

The tension in his body began to burn his muscles and he tried to stand. That was over quickly as his legs were too shaky and tight. He painfully used the table and the walls to make his way to the bathroom. He sat on the toilet seat trying to collect his thoughts and keep his head from spinning. After a few painful minutes of breaking down his nightmare, he decided he needed a shower. As soon as he stepped into the hot water, he sank to the floor. 

Within a few minutes, he realized he left his clothes on. He wasn’t right. He needed help. He needed Eric. The fighting and his encounters with Negan brought up the worst days of his life. It was times like these he didn’t think anything would get better. He had to create a future with his daughter, but his future was nothing without Eric. The pain was gone, but in its place, the numbness took over. He didn’t know how long he sat on the floor of the shower staring into space before he began to sob. He was nothing. He was empty. He would never get the love of his life back. 

He felt the warm water begin to cool against his curls and knew it was time to get out. He hung his soaked clothes and changed into another pair of pajamas. He groaned as he looked at his face in the mirror. He changed so much. Would Eric still love him if he saw how broken he was? Would Gracie? 

He sighed as he tried to take the sweat soaked sheets off his bed with his one arm. As he was about to start making up the couch, he heard a shrill scream echo through the large house from Gracie’s room. 

“No!! No, daddy, please!!” He sprinted to Gracie’s room as panic enveloped him. 

When he reached her room and flipped on the light, he could see her thrashing in her blankets. Her brow was furrowed in fear as she cried out for her dad. 

Careful not to scare her, he sat next to her on the bed and ran his hand from her hair to her shoulder, “Gracie, baby, you have to wake up. Come on sweetheart, it’s daddy. Wake up, baby,” he pleaded. It hurt him to see her so afraid. 

Gracie’s eyes flew open and her arms instinctively reached out for Aaron who pulled her to his chest to stop her trembling.

For a few moments he rocked her as she sobbed into his chest. The last few days Gracie had him worried sick. He wanted her as far away from the fight as possible, but she found herself right in the middle of it. What made it worse was that they were separated after the battle. He didn’t know if she was alive or dead. And that thought was too much for him to bear. Between the battle and the cave, they were too close to losing each other. He just held her tighter. 

“Shhhh... daddy’s here. I’m here, and I’ve got you. We’re okay,” he cooed. She just wailed harder, “Honey, it’s okay. Shhhh, just breathe with me.”

He took several deep breaths and eventually felt Gracie breathe with him. Once her sobbing was reduced to small hiccups, Aaron pulled away and laid her back down. He gently stroked her hair and wiped a tear away. He smiled as Gracie leaned into his touch, “Want to talk about it?” 

She sniffles into her blankets, “It was the Whisperers... they took me from Alexandria at night f-from my bed,” she whimpered, “I called to you but you weren’t there... They took me and the other kids through the w-woods to a scary cabin. I didn’t know what they were going to do to us, daddy, but they all had weapons and the scary masks,” 

“I’m so sorry, Gracie,” he cried, “I’m so sorry.”

“You came to rescue us, but there...” she weeped, “there were too many of them. They killed you...” she began to have trouble breathing again, “you died. And they were going to kill us too,” her cries picked up once more and Aaron was too shocked to say anything. He just pulled her into his arms, “I was so scared, daddy. I didn’t know what to do. You were just gone.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. At Hilltop, I was so scared. I didn’t know where you were or if you were safe.... I was so scared... but you were so good and so brave,” he pulled back and put his hand on her cheek, “I am so proud of you. We are going to get through this. You and me,” he would never forget the relief that washed over him as he saw Gracie at the rendezvous point. The feeling of her in his arms again was a huge weight off his chest, but after, he couldn’t help the anxiety that creeped up.

“Would Papa have been proud?”

Aaron inhaled shakily, “Absolutely. He probably would have let you have ice cream for dinner when we got back,” he chuckled.

Gracie laughed and wiped her eyes, her expression growing darker, “Are more people going to die?”

Aaron’s smile faltered, “I hope not. I don’t want you to think about that. Just keep being brave for me, and I will keep being brave for you, alright?” 

“I will try.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“You look tired, dad.”

“It’s easy to fight for what you love, but hard to see others’ sacrifices. I had a bad dream about a fight too. We’ll get through it together though. For each other.”

“I love you.” 

“I always had a hunch,” he smiled as he kissed her head. 

“Are you going back to your room?”

“I was actually going to ask you if I could stay with you tonight. I think it would make us both feel better.”

“Of course, daddy!”

Aaron laid down on her bed and Gracie snuggled into his chest, “Goodnight, baby. I love you.”


End file.
